We started planning for our Cambodia Pediatric Heart Surgery Medical Mission trips in Spring of 2025. We began having didactic lectures with the local team in September 2025. Our first trip was February 2026, at National Pediatric Hospital in Phnom Penh. During the trip we completed 7 open heart surgeries, all were successful and patient did well.
During our trip from September 23, 2026 to September 30, we will be screening 30 patients we have virtually seen for preparation for our trip in January/February 2027 as well as see other patients which come forward. We will also be evaluating the patients we cared for in February 2026. During this trip we will be meeting hospital administrators, the medical teams, to help guide them as the new hospital wing is being built. We will, also, giving medical staff didactic lectures, evaluating the medical equipment we brought last trip, and having a fundraiser to support the long term success of the program.
Pediatric patients. Pediatric services are very underserved. By focusing on congenital heart disease, the most common congenital defect, we are able to train nurses, ICU teams, surgeons, anesthesia, other allied health providers to work as a bigger team and raise the level of care for all patients they care for.
We have monthly meetings with the local teams. All patients are followed regularly and we have a database with their clinical information and outcomes. These are our preliminary trips with goal over 10 years to make a sustainable congenital heart program at Nation Pediatric Hospital.
We had a great trip. We screened 17 patients for our next mission trip January/February 2027. We saw the 7 patients we operated on for congenital heart disease in February 2026. They all are doing great, feeling better, going to school and gaining excellent weight. They were the first children operated on for heart disease at National Pediatric Hospital. During this trip, we had several important meetings with hospital leadership regarding future plans and developing a sustainable pediatric heart program which includes building a new wing of the hospital, new hires, and continuing our monthly education/case conference, as well as their weekly educational meetings. We, also, meet with Minister of Health representatives to discuss developing a long term plan for treating congenital heart disease in Cambodia. We are very encouraged with the development of the program and the progress we have made in over a year.
